Core standards

Until March 2008, libraries in England were asked to meet ten criteria in order to meet their obligations to local people. These include targets for:

• Closeness of libraries to their customers
• Opening hours
• Access to the internet and other online catalogue services
• Number of books and other items purchased new each year

Full details of the standards can be found on the DCMS website at http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/publications/3662.aspx

Information about each Library Authority's performance against each of the Public Library Service Standards was published as part of the 2004/05 CIPFA (The Chartered Institute Public Finance and Accountancy) Public Library Statistics.

Details are available in the following document:

http://www.cipfastats.net/leisure/publiclibraryactuals/content/2004-05/standards.pdf

The Public Library Service Standards complemented the  Public Library Impact Measures  launched in March 2005, and the two sets of measures together provided a coherent approach to performance management for public libraries.